I Lost Everything by Vince

Before I came to A Ray of Hope, I had lost everything.  I was homeless and broke. I had not spoken to my children or worked in years.  I didn’t even have a change of clothes.  I was barely alive and I had lost hope!  My addiction had completely consumed me and it had devoured everything.  The only thing that mattered to me everyday was getting my fix and numbing away the pain.  I had lost the will to live. Then something changed.

One day I was walking with a friend of mine down the street by A Ray of Hope.  We were going to check the donation box in front of the house for some clean clothes.  I heard someone call my name, and when I turned to look it was Joe.  He was the first person I had used drugs with. He called me over and asked me how I was, as it had been a couple years since we had seen each other.  When I knew him he had been  estranged from his family and thought he had lost them in his addiction. He informed me he had changed his life and had walked away from drugs while living at A Ray of Hope.  Then Joe said something that changed my life.  He said, “If you are ever serious about getting sober and putting your life back together, come and talk to me and there will be a place for you here.”  He explained to me how he had come to A Ray of Hope and how they helped him get his family back and gave him a life worth living.

After that day, things just weren’t the same.  The drugs didn’t work like they used to and the pain was   always there.  It was also accompanied by this nagging feeling of failure.  I was feeling like I had given up and I was the only one to blame for the position I was in.  I tried to fight it for a few months but my life became even worse.  I started to wish I wouldn’t even wake up.

One morning I woke up in one of the local parks and I knew I could not take one more day of this life.  Something had to change and I had no idea how to change it. Then Joe’s words came back into my mind. If I wanted to put my life back together, I was supposed to come and talk to him at A Ray of Hope.  I found him and I told him I was READY!

It’s been just over a year now since I came to this place.  I live a life today, that a few years ago, I never could have dreamed about.  I speak to my kids everyday. I work and I have many friends who love me and care about me.  I am involved with other people in recovery and I give back to the community.  I am able to do all this because of the “Hand Up” I received at A Ray of Hope.